Film review: VICE – 3 stars (out now)

Adam McKay’s The Big Short was a fantastic exposé into the financial crisis and with Vice, I was fully expecting him to deliver a razor-sharp follow-up. Sadly the narrative of Vice really lets the film down, in spite of Christian Bale’s outstanding leading turn (that fully deserves all of the Oscar buzz surrounding it). Bale plays Dick Cheney, and we see his rise to power during one of the most fascinating periods in recent US politics. The film uses the same tropes that were so effective in The Big Short (off-beat explanations mid-sequence, talking to camera etc) but it just doesn’t come together well here. Sam Rockwell is great as George W. Bush but is hardly in it, and the collective ensemble – including Steve Carell, Alison Pill, Tyler Perry, Eddie Marsan and Amy Adams – all can’t save the film from a striking mediocrity once all is said and done.